Two of them were employees from the state and the other one was a city of Flint employee. All three have been charged with felonies.

Schuette announced the first of what he promises to be many criminal charges filed in the handling of the crisis.

"So many things went so terribly wrong and tragically wrong in Flint. Today, we are announcing that we have filed criminal charges in the Flint water crisis against three individuals," Schuette said.

The two state employees, Stephen Busch and Michael Prysby, worked for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. The other person, Michael Glasgow, was Flint's utilities director.

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said it was painful to see a city official charged.

"It's a bittersweet kind of thing. That's hard when it's your employee, but on the other hand, we are still looking for accountability no matter where it falls," Weaver said.

Sources said this is the beginning.Other shoes are expected to drop following the pattern of deception that many find as hard to swallow as the tainted water itself.

Schuette said more people will have to answer for their role in the crisis.

"We will follow the facts without fear or favor and we will go wherever the truth takes us and in this case, wherever the email takes us," Schuette said.

City officials said they want to know more about the role of Emergency Manager Darnell Earley and possibly Gov. Rick Snyder. They want to know who knew what and when did they know it when it comes to lack of corrosion control for the water.

"What was encouraging to me is that there are other people that potentially could be charged that I think were probably more involved than just these that have been named in it today," Flint Councilman Scott Kincaid said.